Music In Our Schools Month on March, 2019: Music in Our Schools Month?

March, 2019 is Music In Our Schools Month 2019. Music In Our Schools Month Music Education Programs for NYC’s Underprivileged Kids. Learn More.

When I was in HS (Class of '93) we had a "Pops Concert", which was seperate from the regular winter / Spring concerts. There was a theme: "Through the Decades", Disney, "At the Movies", etc.

We would all perform from that theme; the band, chorus, soloists, etc. It was a HUGE hit and a lot of fun. Good luck!

When is music appreciation month?

There's lots of music appreciation months celebrating all sorts of aspects of music!

National Accordion Awareness Month is June.

Classical Music Month is September.

National Piano Month is September.

Jazz Appreciation Month is April.

Music in Our Schools Month is March.

Music school questions?

The talent pool in classical music is extremely competitive. Most schools have a minimum requirement for the level of pieces that are played at auditions, and limited spots in the program. This means that if you're unlucky enough to be auditioning at a school that will accept 10 people on classic guitar this year, and there are 10 players who are all amazing, and play more difficult pieces better than you play the minimum requirements, you are SOL for that school, if they all choose to go there. To get accepted you must find the schools you wish to go to and learn their admission requirements, meet with the faculty if you can, and most importantly learn who they are! At most colleges and universities there are EXTREMELY talented and renowned musicians. If you are going to spend the next four years or more with them, learn who they are, who they were taught by, and who they have taught.

Rejection only feels bad when you know you could have done better, if you were prepared to the best of your abilities and weren't good enough, than thats not your fault. If you didn't practice then feel bad, because you wasted everyones time. Everybody, especially a musician knows rejection, be it a school, ensemble, or band that choose someone over you, it happens to everyone, don't sweat it, just make sure to ask questions on how to better your performance after. Don't ask things like "why did you choose him?", things like, "what do you think needs most improvement with my playing?", or be even more specific if you can, are good questions to ask. Feedback is invaluable.

My experience in the jazz program I am in, is that most people have been playing their instruments for around 4-7 years before university, but many, if not nearly all, had musical training before that, mostly on the piano or voice (both are a large part of musical education, so get used to the idea of learning them!)

I know you had specific questions but I think I should mention something about lessons. The thing about private lessons, which you may not know, can be affordable if you only have one or two a month, instead of weekly. If you can manage to save a couple of bucks up a day, for a whole month, that should buy you an hour with a decent teacher. A good student, doesn't need weekly lessons. If you do find yourself with a teacher, explain your situation, they will likely understand, and make sure to load you up with work for a month. It is better to have one lesson a month with a good teacher, than to have none at all.

Work hard, learn as much as you can, listen and explore. My beef with classical cats is that they have such a narrow definition of what is 'good music', but that is a little too much of a tangent for this conversation.